Anne of Romania

Anne (born Princess Anne Antoinette Françoise Charlotte Zita Marguerite of Bourbon-Parma; 18 September 1923 – 1 August 2016) was the wife of King Michael I of Romania.

Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma was born on 18 September 1923 in Paris, France, as the only daughter of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margaret of Denmark.

With her three brothers she spent her childhood in France.

To her family she was known as Nane (in English Nan).

Their holidays were spent alternately at the Villa Pianore in Lucca with their paternal grandmother the Dowager Duchess of Parma, or at Bernstorff Palace in Copenhagen with their maternal grandfather.

Anne's paternal aunt was the last Austrian Empress Zita while maternal great aunts were Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom.

It has been surmised that the Pope's refusal was, in part, motivated by the fact that when Princess Giovanna of Italy married Anne's cousin, Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria, in 1930, the couple had undertaken to raise their future children as Roman Catholics, but had baptized them in the Orthodox faith in deference to Bulgaria's state religion.

In 1939 her family fled from the Nazis and escaped to Spain.

From there they went on to Portugal and then to the United States.

She attended the Parsons School of Design in New York City from 1940 to 1943.

She also worked as a sales assistant at Macy's department store.

In 1943, she volunteered for military service in the French Army.

She served in Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Luxembourg and in liberated Germany, as an ambulance driver.

Anne received the French Croix de Guerre for her wartime service.

In November 1947, Anne met Michael I of Romania, who was visiting London for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten.

A year earlier, Queen Mother Helen had invited Anne, her mother, and brothers for a visit to Bucharest, but the plan did not come off.

Meanwhile, Michael had glimpsed Anne in a newsreel and requested a photograph from the film footage.

Anne did not want to accompany her parents to London for the royal wedding as she wished to avoid meeting King Michael in official surroundings.

Instead, she planned to stay behind, go alone to the Paris railway station and, pretending to be a passerby in the crowd, privately observe the king as his entourage escorted him to his London-bound train.

However, at the last moment she was persuaded by her first cousin, Prince Jean of Luxembourg, to come to London, where he planned to host a party.

Upon arrival in London, she stopped by Claridge's to see her parents, and found herself being introduced unexpectedly to King Michael.

Abashed to the point of confusion, she clicked her heels instead of curtseying, and fled in embarrassment.

Charmed, the king saw her again the night of the wedding at the Luxembourg embassy soirée, confided in her some of his concerns about the Communist takeover of Romania and fears for his mother's safety, and nicknamed her Nan.

They saw each other several times thereafter on outings in London, always chaperoned by her mother or brother.

A few days later, Anne accepted an invitation to accompany Michael and his mother when he piloted a Beechcraft aeroplane to take his aunt Princess Irene, Duchess of Aosta, back home to Lausanne.

Sixteen days after meeting, Michael proposed to Anne while the couple were out on a drive in Lausanne.

She initially declined, but later accepted after taking long walks and drives with him.

Although Michael gave her an engagement ring a few days later, he felt obliged to refrain from a public announcement until he informed his government, despite the fact that the press besieged them in anticipation.

Michael returned to Romania, where he was told by the prime minister that a wedding announcement was not "opportune".

Yet within days it was used as the government's public explanation for Michael's sudden abdication, which according to royalty "expert" Marlene A. Eilers Koenig was in fact the king deposition by the Communists on 30 December.

Anne was unable to get further news of Michael until he left the country.

She married Michael in 1948, the year after he had abdicated the throne.

Nonetheless, she was known after the marriage as Queen Anne (Regina Ana).

They finally reunited in Davos on 23 January 1948.

As a Bourbon, Anne was bound by the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, which required that she receive a dispensation to marry a non-Catholic Christian (Michael was Orthodox).

At the time, such a dispensation was normally only given if the non-Roman Catholic partner promised to allow the children of the marriage to be raised as Roman Catholics.

Michael refused to make this promise since it would have violated Romania's monarchical constitution, and would be likely to have a detrimental impact upon any possible restoration.

The Holy See (which handled the matter directly since Michael was a member of a reigning dynasty) refused to grant the dispensation unless Michael made the required promise.

Helen, Queen Mother of Romania and her sister Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, Duchess of Aosta (an Orthodox married to a Catholic Prince) met with the fiancée's parents in Paris, where the two families resolved to take their case to the Vatican in person.

In early March, the couple's mothers met with Pope Pius XII who, despite the entreaties of the Queen Mother and the fact that Princess Margrethe pounded her fist on the table in anger, refused permission for Anne to marry Michael.